Thursday, February 7, 2019

We recently added this new
and original tour program to our selection and the feedback from the
first customers was really good, so as we always do I had to try it
first hand in order to fully understand how it works so I can give
better explanations to those interested in it, especially for this
tour which is very different from the usual ones available from
Phuket.

Pick up at Easy Day's
office in Kathu was on time at 7:45 as planned, then in the van I
greeted the few other guests met the guide Som. We already knew each
other since she was also guiding

the Kapong RiverTubing Safari Tourwhen
I did it last year,
so
I already knew that me and my fellow travellers were in very good
hands for the day. Regardless of the beauty of
the sites you visit, a great tour guide's skills, knowledge and
attention can really make the difference.

The drive to Wat Bang
Rieng which is located north of Phang Nga Town on the mainland takes
about 2 hours, so instead of going straight there we had a first stop
about half way at a kind of zoo/sanctuary located not far past the
Sarasin Bridge. The guide explained that this is a place where they
keep and give care to the animals that are seized from the illegal
poachers that abused them for profit purposes, as well as other
animals that got injured and need to be treated before being released
in the wild. There were large cages hosting different primates like
slow lorises, gibbons and macaques as well as birds, felines and
others. The place looked very clean and the animals looked healthy
and well looked after. This has been a good place to spend half an
hour stretching our legs before proceeding with the trip towards
Phang Nga.

Back in the minivan for
another hour or so, we finally arrived at one of the highlights of
the day, Wat Bang Rieng. This is probably my favorite temple in
Thailand, at least among the ones I've seen so far. There's something
magical about the place, the complex is made of a main pagoda and two
huge statues, one is of a golden seated Buddha while the other is a
less common statue of Kwan Yin, (Chinese Goddess of Mercy
and Compassion). The parts are stretched across different
hills/mountains, the views from the top are simply breathtaking and
there's a unique mix of culture and nature. The interior of the main
pagoda is also very particular featuring warrior-shaped pillars,
frescoes and a relic of the Buddha. This is also one of the few
places where with a bit of luck can spot the Giant Black Squirrel, we
actually managed to find one but it was sleeping on a shaded and high
branch so I couldn't take a decent picture. On the other hand, while
walking back to the parking lot we stumbled on a “normal” brown
squirrel that was happily eating a papaya which was bigger than the
squirrel itself, quite a funny sight I must say.

The next stop was at at
the area called Bor Thor, characterised by the tidal channels
surrounded by mangrove forest and karsts, part of the Tan Bok Korani
National Park, which is where the kayaking part of this day trip
takes place. The area is at the northern edge of Phang Nga Bay, on
previous tours I explored and kayaked around the huge bay a lot but
always on the western and southern part, so this was a completely new
experience for me. Now I can say that this less known area is every
bit as good as the more popular parts of Phang Nga Bay, it even has
some unique peculiarities. The starting point of the kayaking tour is
the floating restaurant where the lunch was served later on, before
departing for the adventure we were given the opportunity to choose
between self-paddling or having a professional paddler, I'm a bit out
of shape so I thought that I needed a bit of exercise, therefore I
opted for the first option. The canoe tour lasted about 90 minutes
altogether, back and forth through a first larger and then a narrower
mangrove channel, and a middle part where we parked the kayaks for a
while to explore a huge cave. The mangrove part of the tour was very
nice, completely immersed in the natural environment of a thick
mangrove forest with the impressive karst cliffs all around, we even
paddled through some narrow openings in the rock all the way inside a
“hong”, and later through a larger and longer cave (Tham Lod)
full of stalactites. Then the cave exploration by walk was really
amazing, not only because the cave is huge and full of stalactites
and stalagmites, but mainly because this cave called Tham Pee Hua To
(“cave of the big head ghost”) hosts some very interesting
prehistoric paintings probably made by people who found shelter there
from the heavy rains in ancient times. There's even a large boulder
that resembles a skull, probably that's where the cave's nae comes
from.

The set lunch was ready
shortly after we returned to the restaurant, as usual there was a
selection of 4-5 Thai dishes with plenty to eat for everyone. On the
day's set menu was the popular Tom Yum Seafood, a vegetarian dish,
Chicken with Cashew Nuts and fried fish, everything was tasty and
still warm. The restaurant is pretty big and floating on the mangrove
channel so the scenery is quite nice, while there we crossed paths
with a large group of Chinese tourists but only for a moment, while
for the rest of the time both during lunch and kayaking we were
almost alone. Looks like the tour schedule is well planned to run a
bit off time and avoid the larger crowds.

Back on the van, we
stopped at an Elephant Camp just about 10 minutes away from the
restaurant I already did this activity several times in different
parts of Thailand and must say that this wasn't the most impressive
one. The trek mainly takes place through a palm oil plantation (it's
the main industry in the area) and just a little bit through the
jungle. On the other hand the elephants seemed healthy and well
treated by the staff, which is an important point. This is an
optional activity in this Day Trip and in the overall it can still a
good experience for someone who's never tried Elephant Trekking,
while those who already experienced it in the jungle or in more
natural an genuine environment could probably skip it without
regrets.

Some 5 minutes away from
the Elephant Camp we had our last stop of the day, last but not least
since it was no less amazing than what we had done so far. Than Bok
Korani Waterfall is part of the same national park that covers some
of the islands in Krabi as well as the mangroves and caves that we
visited earlier in the day. I had been to this place by myself last
year during the rainy season and it was totally flooded by brown
water due to the heavy rains, now that I returned at the right time
of the year can say that the place is really beautiful.

The waterfall
is not a vertical one so do not expect something impressive in that
sense, but more because it's a river coming from inside a cave that
splits into anendless number of waterfalls and
streams creating an environment that looks as it came out of a fairy
tale. The stepping grounds create a lot of little falls and pools
where is possible to swim, the water has a nice turquoise color due
to the deposit of diluted calcite from the surrounding mountains and
it was surprisingly warm. I couldn't think of anything better than a
bath in this waterfall to relax at the end of a exciting day like
this, it was really pleasant to relax there for nearly an hour. Aside
from the waterfall itself, the area is very interesting also because
of the large variety of plants and the story behind them, since many of them were planted personally by the Royal Family.

After about one hour
chilling out at the waterfall it was time to go back to Phuket. We
left Krabi around 17:30 and I was back at our office in Kathu by
19:30 or so, a bit tired but definitely happy at the end of a
wonderful day surrounded by the nature.

I can't find much negative
points about this tour aside from the length, which means I would
highly recommend it to anyone except for those who prefer to avoid
long full day trips. Most definitely a must do tour during the dry
season (December to April), while I wouldn't recommend it much during
the rainy season or at least in the days after heavy rains as in that
case the waterfall would have a completely different “face” being
flooded by brown water.

This tour can also be a
good solution to “hit two birds with one stone” for those who
must move from a hotel in Phuket to a new one in Krabi area, since a
drop off at Krabi hotels can be arranged with a fair surcharge.

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Phuket Wake Park is located in the center of the Phuket Island, in the beautiful district of Kathu, which is very close to Patong and Kamala. In fact, it is only 20 minutes or so from most of the main tourist resorts on the island. Also it is very conveniently located to Phuket international airport, which is only 30 minute away depending on traffic.

Phuket Wake is a very special place where the whole family can come and enjoy all the facilities here. We are open from 6.30am in the morning, for those early risers, and we stay open throughout the day, no sleeping for us, until 10.30pm, every day throughout the year. Even if it is raining, we stay open, well you will only get wet anyhow, so what!

Just recently the park
has installed 11 new obstacles and they are all for your complete enjoyment and
safety. The park has installed a new wakeboard 6 Sesitec cable, as well as winch
Sesitec 2.0 System as too.

We have severalprofessional instructors on staff and
they are ready and waiting to help you and teach you the best techniques available.
We help beginners learn how to wakeboard absolutely free too and before you
know it, you will waking like a professional yourself, and also we can coach
the more advanced riders to gain new tricks.

For a full list of
prices please contact us as there may be some special offers on.

We can provide a
shuttle service from wherever you are staying on the island, whether just
around the corner in Patong or if you are just arriving from the airport or
even if you are staying down in the south of the island, in Rawai or Chalong,
then just let us know and we will sort it for you.

Equipment rental is available
for everyone, so don’t worry if you cannot fit your wakeboard on the airplane
or if the airline tries to charge you an arm and a leg to bring it, then leave
it at home. Our rates are very reasonable here at the park. We have at our disposal
complete and full sets of equipment (wakeboards, life vests, helmets) for both
beginners and for advanced riders alike.

Please contact us
again for any other enquiries including prices for rental of equipmentNight riding:

Yes, that’s correct in
the evening (from 18-30 till 22-00) the whole park is illuminated by powerful
45 lights, which gives amazing visibility and adds an air of excitement to the
whole affair and ensures the complete safety of night riding.

On site, we also have
our very own Wake-float shop which has a huge selection of all the latest wake
boarding equipment and apparel you might even find some great little souvenirs
for home here too. Also on site we have
a shooting range, where you can find all your favourite weapons and shoot away
till your heart is content.

The Shooting Range

The shooting range is
fully insured, and you will be given a full safety briefing and we will teach
you how to hold and how to fire the weapon of your choice easily and safely. On
staff, we several weapon instructors who have been trained in the art of fire
arms technology, so you can be sure to have the most exciting experience possible

Also we have an
excellent massage shop, where after a hard days shooting and wake boarding you
can find some peace and quiet and enjoy a relaxing massage for your feet, your
head or your entire body, sit back relax and let us take care of you.

On site also, we have Phuket
Wake Park Hotel which offers accommodation in 26 fine rooms all have air-con available.
More information about accommodation and pricesWakeboard shop please contact us and we will get back to you very
quickly.

Phuket Wake Park come
and enjoy yourself and let your hair down we are here waiting to serve you and we
will make sure that your time with us is well spent and highly enjoyable.

Friday, July 19, 2013

As it turned out I didn't
book the best day for this tour as it started raining heavily during
the night, however it had stopped raining, at least temporarily, when
I was picked up and taken to the Island Safari Camp.

After waiting for a few
minutes for the other guests to arrive the days activities started,
the first activity was an Ox-cart ride, sitting in a well built all
wood cart (including the wheels – no tyres) which is attached by a
double yoke to two oxen we slowly ambled around a dirt track circling
a rice paddy, part way round you stop for a photo opportunity, after
a few minutes we

had completed the circuit and dismounted and headed
to the next set of activities on a platform on the edge of the rice
paddy. Here we had an opportunity sit astride a beautifully groomed
Buffalo (another photo opportunity). After everyone who wanted to
had had their turn on the buffalo we were treated to a short lecture
and demonstration of traditional rice farming techniques.

The next thing was
something I was looking forward to, a Thai cooking demonstration,
well not really cooking but preparation. Our guide showed us how to
make Somtam (papaya salad), though in deference to the western
palates of the other guests she only put 2 chillies into it, even so
many people said it was very spicy when we got to try it.

From here we made our way
to the rubber tapping and processing demonstration, sadly as it had
been raining it was not possible to collect the rubber, apparently
the sap contains too much water if you tap it straight after rain,
but we were shown how it is tapped and and processed to make large
thin sheets of latex rubber which is then used in many products, they
have examples of many of these, especially those that come in packs
of three.

Then it was on to the
elephant ride, at the starting station you can buy bags of bananas
for the elephants, then you head of on a track around the Safari camp
whilst your elephant keeps putting back it's trunk to get a banana
from you, during the ride the photographer will get you to pose for a
number of photos and you have more chances to buy bananas for your
mount, the ride lasts about 20 minutes.

time of my visit there were two young
elephants (10 & 12 years old) in the show, the show was made up
of simple tricks such as standing on two legs and walking on three
legs and playing football and basketball and throwing darts. The
finale was the elephant massage, where everyone was given the chance
to get a massage (and a kiss) from one of the young elephants.

The next stop was the
Monkey show where where the short tailed macaque monkey “Johnny”
demonstrated the different steps of training monkeys go through to
learn to harvest coconuts and then demonstrated his basketball
skills, a slam dunk any NBA professional would be proud of.

Then on to the Muay Thai
(Thai Boxing) demonstration, or performance may be a better word. A
boxing bout was performed at slow speed to make sure everyone could
see the moves and then members of the tour group were invited to
practice some of the skills with the boxers.

Demonstrations finished it
was on to the fish foot spa where after having your feet washed you
sit on the edge of a fish tank with your feet in the water, after a
few moment the fish start to tickle your feet, they are actually
eating your dead skin. They didn't manage to make much of a
difference to my calloused feet but it was pleasant, I thought they
might hurt when they started cleaning around my partially grown back
nail but it didn't. During the foot spa treatment the photographer
came round with the photos he had taken during the day, you can buy
these as a reminder of the day.

The last activity for the
day was the canoeing along the moo dong river, to get there we
mounted pick up trucks with seats in the back and headed of on a ten
minute drive to a small jetty on the edge of the river. As there was
quite a current running it was decided that those that wanted to
canoe should take the canoes down the river towards Chalong bay and
then transfer to the longtail boat for the journey back to the jetty,
for those whose preferred comfort the whole ride was done on the
longtail boat. During the gentle drift along the river we saw the
mangroves lining the river and passed a couple of fish farms which
are also inhabited by a troop of long-tail macaque monkeys, after
this pleasant little cruise along the river it was back into the
trucks and back to the Safari camp for a delicious Thai lunch.

The lunch included a range
of classic Thai dishes – green curry, chicken with cashew nuts,
sticky rice with fried pork and somtam.

After our bellies were
full it was time for everyone to board the mini-vans and head back
to their hotels.

The Multi-Adventure Safari is a fun, interesting and
entertaining morning or afternoon, a brief insight into Thai life and culture.

Saturday, June 8, 2013

Another awesome sunny and dry day. Forecasts provided by wind guru website, which are usually quite accurate, are saying that from tomorrow afternoon the wind intensity will increase and on Monday is expected to reach peaks of 20-25 knots and to have waves up to 3 meters.

Probably not the best day to go out on a speedboat tour to Phi Phi or Racha Yai, better to stay on the safe side using a bigger and stable boat like Royal Jet Cruiser 9.

The conditions might slightly change between now and Monday however as we can see from the flags in the picture below today the wind already picked up a bit.

Go-Kart track in Kathu

The picture was taken at one of the two Go-Kart tracks located in Kathu near our office. In the past few years this area has developed hosting many of the most interesting Phuket Activities. You should probably consider enjoying such land-based activities on those days when the sea is expected to be very rough.

For many years we have dived around this island so we knew that nature and marine life here are beautiful, we have seen here many times Manta and Whale Sharks. The Island stands alone between Simlan Islands National Park and Surin Islands National Park, nothing either than the Indian Ocean to West and to East is Thailand mainland.

Koh Tachai The beach

Now was time to finally step on it and discover how beautiful the place is, we booked a day trip with our selected operator and got ready at 8:00 am for pick up that was actually five minutes earlier, we were the first. We were staying at Khao Lak Country Side, that is close to the beach despite the name. Then went around the different hotels to collect other customers, last pick up was at Jw Marriot Khao Lak around 8:40 am on the way North to Ban Nam Kem where the boat was departing from (at the end of season boats normally depart south of Khao Lak from Tab Lamu).

Speed Boat inside

There was a nice welcome with coffee, tea and water while we waited for every one else to arrive and then a simple briefing about the schedule during the day and rules to follow on the boat and at the Island. We followed our guide down the road to the beach where boat was waiting for us.
Took our places on board and the other staff were introduced,the three four strokes engines were started and soon we were sailing full speed to Koh Tachai.

The Island is about 30 miles off shore, the sea was flat as normal in mid March so it was easy to get there in about one hour and 20 minutes.
Amazing colors, getting close to Tachai Island the sea went from dark Blue to emerald and then almost white as the water there is so clear that you only see the white sand bottom.

A quick stop at the beach to unload food, beverages and staff, those who like to enjoy more the beach the refreshing trees and snorkeling from the shore got off the boat.

Koh Tachai Rest area

Those remaining, about 15 people of the 30 on board, stayed on the boat and in 10 minutes we were snorkeling on the reef. It is strictly forbidden to feed the fish so you won't just see the small fishes coming close to you for some bread but the real reef life. The white sand bottom and clear water makes it very easy to see colors and fishes, guides are in the water to be sure that those not confident at swimming don't get caught in the current.

Koh Tachai north reef

We suggest to bring your fins, it will make it easier to get back to the boat and more fun exploring a bigger area and getting close to the drop off. Koh Tachai is exposed to tidal currents so when water level changes current can be strong and it is recommended to stay close to the boat and the guides.
One hour snorkeling is good to make people hungry so we went back to the beach and near the Rangers base the staff did a great job preparing a lot of food, with BBQ sea food, shrimps, noodles, veggies and lot more.

Luunch time at Koh Tachai

Lunch time

Home made Thai sweets

Thai sweets to refresh

Relax and if you like enjoy one hour exploration of Tachai Rain Forest where
can see birds and the big "chicken" Crabs, so called because of the sound
they make.

Koh Tachai Rain Forest

I preferred to swim and enjoy more snorkeling and walk on the beach made of incredibly fine white sand. Between the parked boats you can sometimes see baby reef sharks that come close to shore to hunt small fishes and crabs.

Koh Tachai the beach

Speed boat to Koh Tachai moored at the beach

Around 15:00 staff pack all their equipment, collect all rubbish and call everyone to get on board, ready for the trip back to the hotel, on board more water and soft drinks are available. We were at our hotel around 17:30.

Three engines speed boat to Koh Tachai

Best time to visit is between January and mid April when sea and weather conditions are at their best.
Bring your towel, fins, and a lot of sunscreen, best is a sunscreen vest, a hat and some money to tip crew and guides that do a great job everyday. Toilets and showers, well kept and clean, are available on the Island that has a fresh water reserve.

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

This kayaking tour will take you off the beaten track to the unspoilt part of Thambok Koranee National Park - Krabi Province. Here you will enjoy 3 hours Kayaking through the fascinating mangrove channels and limestone caves, where you also have the opportunity to spot some of the interesting local wildlife. You will also spend some time at the beautiful waterfall in the National Park where you can have a cooling swim, while later you will pay a visit to one of the most interesting and unique temples in the province, "Wat Bang Rieng".

Hidden Limestone Bay

Cave Kayaking

Itinerary:

Thambok Koranee Waterfall

7:00-7:45 Pick up at your Phuket Hotel and drive north towards Krabi Province.

9:30-9:45 Coffee break at the restaurant

10:00 Approximately 3 hours Kayaking through the mangroves and lagoon, then the caves of "Tham Lod" and "Tham Pi Hua To". You can choose to paddle yourself or let the friendly trained paddlers provided do it for you.

13:00 Back to start point and enjoy a tasty Set Menu Lunch at the scenic raft restaurant.

14:00 Move to the beautiful waterfalls, just 10 minutes away in Thambok Koranee National Park.Spend one hour playing and relaxing at the waterfalls.

15:00 Move to the spectacular Temple "Wat Bang Rieng" (a.k.a. Patronage Temple) where you can take great pictures and with a bit of luck can also spot the local "giant black squirrel".

NOTES: the order of the stops may vary depending on daily tidal situation in order to provide the nicest experience to the guests. This program is not recommended to children below 3 years of age.
Transfers from Krabi/Ao Nang hotels are possible, must check case by case.